I’m Back, I Don’t Feel Like Blogging, and I’m Sorry

Hi, guys. So if you’ve been following about the last month on reutreads, you may have noticed that I went on vacation on the 4th. I got back on Sunday. Sunday I was exhausted, and Monday was my return to routine. Since I scheduled a post for Monday, I figured I would schedule a post for Tuesday with my official “I’m back!” post and then get back to normal. But that didn’t happen.

Monday night, a huge scandal broke in the YA blogosphere. I honestly am sick of talking about it. I hope this short summary suffices.

The blogger in question was a huge inspiration to me. She was the first book blogger who’s blog I ever stumbled upon, which of course, inspired me, eventually to create my own blog, a decision that has influenced my life for the past year in many ways, some small, some big, some good, some bad. This blogger’s expertise and resources helped me a great deal, and I continued to aspire to her blog’s standards regarding viewership, seek her advice, and participate in memes she created. Reading the recap posts, I honestly felt like I had been sucker-punched. Physically, I felt short of breath. I could not believe it.

I’ve decided to just jump in with my two cents on this whole The Story Siren plagiarism matter. Unless some new development comes to light with this situation, this post is the last I plan to say on that matter, either here, or on Twitter/Facebook.

“You know, a few months ago, something similar happened with some other bloggers at Paranormal Night Owl reviews. That blog no longer exists, but basically these two girls were massively plagiarizing many other bloggers and peddling the reviews off as their own. Once this was found out, very many bloggers were up in arms and were determined to shut Paranormal Night Owls down. Completely. They contacted publishers and informed them of the plagiarism, and they even boycotted the blog.

Not one person stopped and said, “Wait, guys, we should just forgive them for what they’ve done.”

So, my question to you is, why is everyone saying this for Kristi? Why is she so special, that she should be treated differently than anyone else that decides to plagiarize?

I’ve been a victim of plagiarism, and let me tell you, it sucks. A lot. It hurts to know that someone stole words that you wrote and worked hard on, and was getting credit for them. So I sympathize very much with the victimized bloggers, and I understand why they’re so angered. Really, I do.

And no, I don’t think we should just “forgive and forget” what Kristi did, because what she did wasn’t right. And if it were anyone else, I know that people wouldn’t have those same sentiments. If you had a bum and Madonna in the same room, and they both committed theft, shouldn’t they get the same punishment? Or should you go easier on Madonna because of who she is, and maybe because she’ll publicly say sorry? (Which to be honest, I don’t buy into Kristi’s ‘apologies’ because they just sound like she’s trying so hard to deflect the blame from herself.) No, you shouldn’t give Madonna special treatment over the bum, and we shouldn’t give Kristi special treatment either.

And what I find really funny is everyone is saying “She’s human, she makes mistakes!” Of course she does! But copying numerous posts from other people–and making it really obvious once you stop and compare them–is not a mistake. One thing is to type a weird word because your finger slips, and you publish it without meaning to. That’s a mistake. But after you spend 30 minutes on a blog, several times over, in fact, it stops becoming a mistake and instead becomes something very intentional. Kristi knew very well what she was doing, because she did it several times.

Which brings me to my next point. Another thing many people are saying is that “she should get a second chance.” Do you guys realize that she’s already had a second chance, and a third, and a fourth? She had a second chance when, after she posted the first plagiarized post, she decided to plagiarize another, and another, until she had a grand total of 6 plagiarized posts.

SIX.

Are you still going to tell me she made a mistake? That she didn’t mean to? That she’s sincerely sorry for what she did? Because if she really was sorry, she wouldn’t have done it in the first place, or she at least wouldn’t have done it more than once. But guys, she’s a repeat offender. Multiple times over.

The worst part of all this, I feel, was she lied about it. She lied, blatantly and tried making it sound like she was some innocent little bystander who just accidentally wrote down the same stuff as someone else. She said she had never been to the blogs she plagiarized, and once proof was shown that she spent copious amounts of time on them, she changed her story to “I didn’t recognize them at first, but yes, I did read those blogs.” I won’t link to her apologies, because I don’t want to associate with her blog anymore, but they’re there.

So, I will no longer read her blog. I unfollowed her on Twitter, Formspring, Facebook, and Goodreads. I don’t condone plagiarism, and in my opinion, I don’t support her being a blogger anymore. Someone made a good point that if she were a journalist, she would never get another job again. And it’s true, because that stuff follows you. This whole thing has really angered me, because, like many people, I looked up to Kristi so much. I loved The Story Siren, and now that’s gone. It’ll never come back, either, because once my trust is gone, it’s gone.”

So I haven’t felt like blogging for the past few days. Something about it is gone for me, something I’ll have to wait to get back, if it ever comes back at all. I’ll be regrouping for a bit and when I feel ready, I’ll be back.

Again.

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3 thoughts on “I’m Back, I Don’t Feel Like Blogging, and I’m Sorry”

It’s hard when you see a “hero” fall because of something they did; I’ve had it happen pretty recently and, while that situation was much worse than plagerism, I think the feeling holds true. When someone inspires us and introduces us to something we eventually grow to love, when that person is the reason we are who we are as whatever we are, they hold a special place within us. So to see that person is not the “hero” we once thought is devastating. As much as I hate to say it, because I think everyone deserves some form of understanding and forgiveness, you’re absolutely right about how this particular blogger should be treated and I don’t blame you for a second for taking a stand against what she did.

That being said, I hope that this situation doesn’t put you off blogging permanently. I enjoy your blog immensely and love hearing your thoughts on books and subjects. I also have deep respect for your opinions and, after this post, this respect has grown. Just wanted to let you know!

It’s okay to take a break (and sometimes it’s very necessary), but I hope that you don’t let this whole thing discourage you to the point where you stop blogging. You have a unique voice, great content, and add a lot to the community.